My brother's son
by Nagarox1234
Summary: Wolf's Rain AU. Blue and Hige are a couple with two young children, Kiba and Cheza. But when Hige's brother dies and gives him custody of his nephew, how will their lives be changed?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own Wolf's Rain.

Hige awoke on a Friday to the shrill, irritating beep of his and his wife's bedside alarm. He sleepily raised a hand and slapped the top of the alarm, silencing it. He then reached a hand over to wake his wide, only for his hand to meet an empty space. He sat up, his wife Bella (or Blue as he liked to call her, was nowhere to be seen. He sat up, throwing on the robe that laid next to his bed, and stepped out of their room.

He stepped into the hallway, walking up to his son Kiba's room and gently pushing open the door to see if Blue was in there for some reason. Nope, it was just their ten year old son Kiba, who was still fast asleep, it was half an hour before he was supposed to wake up. He walked a short distance down the hall to their six year old daughter Cheza's room. He also eased the door open and sure enough, Blue was there, kneeling next to their sleeping daughter's bed.

"Hey, what're you doing up?" He whispered as he slipped into the room and slid down to squat beside her. She turned to him, smiling sadly, and kissed his cheek. "It's nothing, I just couldn't sleep." Hige nodded before staring sadly at Cheza. When Cheza was only a baby she had contracted a mystery illness that nearly took her life. Doctors from all over worked as hard as they could to save her and eventually their efforts paid off but with a price. The disease took Cheza's sight and left her just about mute and requiring special care that took up quite a bit of their money. Since then, the couple had been fiercly protective of their youngest child and, yes, spolied her quite a bit. It did irritate Kiba enormously, he often felt ignored and neglected. But, that was just life for them and they had to deal with it.

Both Hige and Blue would have loved to stay in their daughter's room all day but unfortunately there was work to prepare, Hige had a job as a constructer worker, Blue as a waitress at a local dine. Both slunk back into their room to get dressed, Blue grabbing a casual sky blue dress, Hige snagging a pair of tight jeans and a grey t-shirt. Once Blue was dressed, she headed to the kitchen to begin cooking breakfast for her two children, Hige following behind. He stopped in Kiba's room to wake his son.

"Kiba, wake up, it's time for breakfast." He announced in a sing-song voice. His only response was a grunt, which was normal as Kiba was often grumpy in the mornings. Hige grinned in response before he left Kiba's room and entered Cheza's. He walked to the six year old's bed and laid a hand on her shoulder. A small hand reached up and grabbed his, an indicator that Cheza was awake.

"Hey Cheza, it's time to wake up, okay?" He spokes slowly, it ususally took her a little longer to process things. She didn't verbally respond, instead reaching up, an invitation for Hige to scoop her up and carry her into the kitchen, where Blue had prepared eggs and bacon for Kiba, who had woken up enough to shovel the food in his mouth, and a bowl of cereal for Cheza. Hige set Cheza down at her favorite chair and guided her hand to the spoon. She grasped it and awkwardly lifted it to her mouth, eating a bite.

"Good job Cheza!" Blue cooed. Kiba rolled his eyes and continued to stuff his face in an attempt to hide the anger slowly building up inside him. He knew it wasn't Cheza's fault but it still angered him that she got all the attention.

Soon, breakfast was over and Kiba trudged off to his room to get dressed, Cheza being lead back to her by Blue. As Kiba yanked off his pajama pants and shirt and pulled on green shorts and a plain black t-shirt, Cheza was dressed by her mother, standing motionless as Blue dressed her in a pink dress.

After getting dressed, the children brushed their teeth and hair, Cheza once again being helped by Blue. They then grabbed their backpacks (or rather Kiba grabbed his and Blue grabbed Cheza's) and prepared to walk out the front door. Hige kissed his wife, attempted to kiss his son, only for Kiba to turn his head, and kissed Cheza. Then, they were off, the children going away to school, Blue and Hige off to work.

This was normal life for them. They had no idea how much it was going to change.


	2. Chapter 2

The next day was a Saturday, unfortunately Blue had been called in on an extra shift, leaving Hige at home with Cheza and Kiba. Hige was awake at seven in the morning and decided that when the kids woke up he would to try and cook breakfast for the kids like Blue did every morning. By 9:30, Kiba was awake, and hungry as usual.

"Dad, can you make pancakes?" He called from the doorway, still clad in his bat-man pajamas.

"Hold on Kiba, let me check if Cheza's awake, okay?" Kiba stayed silent but nodded, still concealing his jealousy about his little sister. Hige stood up from bed and brushed past Kiba, who followed him to Cheza's room. Sure enough, Cheza was awake and sitting up, staring blankly at her bedroom wall.

"Hey Cheza, we're going to have breakfast, okay?" He spoke as if talking to a wounded animal, slowly, allowing every word to be heard clearly. Cheza didn't respond but lifted her arms to wrap around Hige's neck. The three of them marched down the hallway to their kitchen, where Hige set Cheza at her chair and Kiba climbed into his. Just as the trio sat down, Hige heard the familiar chink of a mailslot opening and a pile of letters pushed through. He left his two children sitting at the table as he went to retrieve the mail. It was the usual haul, medical bills, compaines begging for customers. But there was one letter that made him freeze, looking at the name to make sure he wasn't hallucinating.

The letter was from his brother Tsume, who he hadn't spoken to in a couple years due to, um, lifestyle disagreements. Tsume liked the bottle immensly, far, far, more than Hige was comfortable being around his children, which was why two years ago his wife had left him and their five year old son Toboe (who he hadn't seen since he was a toddler). Hige couldn't imagine why Tsume would want to contact him. He sliced open the envolpe with his finger and swiftly pulled out the letter.

_Dear Mr. Hige_,

_We very much regret to inform you that your brother has passed away. Cause of death was confirmed to be alcohol poisioning. _

_In his will, your brother granted you custody of his seven year old son He stated that he would much much rather have his estranged brother raise his child than his ex-wife. You will be required to come to his home this saturday to discuss custody and other legal matters. _

_Sincerely, _

_Paradise law company. _

Hige stared at the letter, trying to comprehend what he had just read and how to react. He hadn't spoken to his brother in so long because of his drinking habit, he never bothered to check on him to see how he was doing because he had been wrapped up with his family. He now felt extreme guilt, not just for his brother but his tiny nephew who probably watched his father deteriorate by the day. He set the letter down for a moment and walked into his kitchen, fresh tears beginning to brew as the guilt begin to boil within him.

"Dad, are you okay?" Hige quickly wiped away the tears before turning to his son, hoping the half smile on his face didn't look as dead as it felt.

"Uh, it's a family problem Kiba. My brother, your uncle, recently passed away." The news didn't really seem to have an effect on Kiba, he had only met his uncle once when he was a baby so the memory didn't really stick with him.

"Oh, umm, I'm sorry Dad." He muttered awkwardly, unsure of how to deal with this situation. When his father didn't respond and simply stared trance-like at the kitchen walls, Kiba sighed in frustration, taking Cheza by the hand and yanking her up from her seat. One vegatable in the family was enough, he didn't need another in his young life.

"C'mon Cheza, let's leave Dad alone to his thoughts." He mumbled, leading Cheza to her room like a docile lamb. She stumbled after him, her wobbly legs struggling to keep up with his loping strides. He opened her door, shoved her inside a tad more roughly than he should have, and slammed the door.

He slunk back unhappily to his own room, slamming his door as well. Once inside, he got down on his kness, crawling to the gap underneath his bed and seizing what appeared to be a ragged cardboard box. He peeled open the flaps and peered inside to what he described as his comfort box, it was full of old photos and toys from beofre Cheza was born. His eyes were instantly drawn to a photo of him on his fourth birthday. He was blowing out the candles on his cake, his mother smiling and kissing his forehead, his father wrapping an arm around his shoulder. He touched the worn photo gently, as if he could go back to that time, a time of no worries and lots of love and attention from his parents.

Judging by his fathers reaction to that letter, another huge change had happened. Something that could change his life, more than usual. He wasn't sure if he wanted that, not sure at all.


	3. Chapter 3

Hige stood outside the funereal home, dressed in a solemn black suit and tie. He took a deep breath in a feeble attempt to calm his frail nerves. He was about to enter his brothers funeral, speak to his estranged wife, and possibly enter a custody battle to take care of his young nephew who he hadn't seen since he was a baby. This was no an ideal situation, him and his family had enough stress without the additional mouth to feed. He had talked it over with Blue before he had left, who was not exactly eager to take in another child.

"I don't know Hige, I know he's your nephew but I'm not sure we can afford to feed him. Go to the funeral, see if his mother could possible take him with her." He had assured her he would, kissed her goodbye, kissed both Kiba (who had given him his usual grunt as a response) and Cheza, and left for the airport. Now that he was here, he wished for his wife and children, he longed for their company. After one more deep breath, he entered the funeral home.

After he walked through the lobby, which was filled with sobbing people all dressed in black clothing and asking a weary looking man at a desk which room he was supposed to enter, he entered a small, blank room with plastic folding chairs filling one end of the room, a basic pine coffin on a stand occupying the other. There weren't many people there, Hige didn't even see their mother or father. He saw who he assumed were Tsume's fellow workers as none of them were weeping or sniffling in grief, they just stared apathetically at the coffin. He saw a rusty-red haired women with dark circles under her bronze colored eyes. She was holding the hand of a small boy wearing a suit far too formal for his age, he had her same rusty red hair and bronze eyes. Hige recognized him as his nephew, Toboe. He cautiously approached the pair, this is going to get complicated, he thought to himself.

"Ma'am?" The woman turned towards him as he stuck out his hand in greeting. "I'm Hige, Tsume's brother. May I speak to you for a moment?" She nodded slowly, her eyes wandeting up and down his form, sizing him up. He couldn't help but feel vaguely uncomfortable with the way she was staring at him.

"Well, you see, Tsume's lawyer sent me his will several days ago. It seemed that Tsume wanted me to take custody of his son, Toboe." Toboe looked up at the mention of his name and saw the strange man talking to his mother. He inched behind his mother, occasionally poking his head out from behind her to observe the stranger.

"My wife and I already have two children, one with serious medical problems, and we don't think we can afford taking on another child. But, Toboe is my nephew and I feel like I need to do what is right. That's what I came here to ask you, who do you want custody of your son? Yourself or somone else?" After his talk, Hige waited quietly for her response. He was half praying to himself that she could take Toboe, he wasn't sure if he could care for the boy after all and he wanted what was best for him.

"Take him."

Those two words, spoken shakily, would change Hige's life. He turned towards his brother's ex-wife with bulging eyes. Had he even neard here right? "What?!"

"You heard me. Take him. I'm moving on with my life, and I want to leave all remnants of my past behind. So, take him." Hige was stunned, no, repulsed at this woman's eagerness to abandon her only son. She wasn't even trying to hide it, she hadn't offered a lie such as she couldn't offered it, she had simply said she didn't want him anymore.

It was truly disgusting. How low could a person sink?

Hige was still standing flabbergasted, staring at the woman. She, apparently growing impatient, walked over to him, dragging Toboe along and released her sons hand.

"Mama?" Toboe said. He was very confused, why was his mama letting his hand go right by this strange man? What was she talking about, moving on? Toboe was a very innocent and not very smart child, he was very mixed up and confused right now. His mother knelt before him and put her hand on his face briefly.

"Toboe, listen to me. I can't take care of you anymore. This man here is your uncle and he and his family are going to take care of you, okay?" Toboe didn't answer, a lump that formed in his throat prevented him from speaking. His mother was leaving him? Why, didn't she live him? Tears began flowing freely from his wide eyes as he hiccuped loudly. She saw he couldn't speak so she stood up and exited the room, quickly returning with a tiny suitcase. "Here's some stuff for him." She handed off the suitcase to Hige, who was holding the sobbing Toboe's hand. Before Hige could stop her, and with a final nonchalant look, she left the funeral home. This time, she didn't return. There were no final goodbyes or I love you's to Toboe, she simply dumped him as though he were a piece of trash.

Hige had no idea how to react. What was going on with this family that a woman willingly abadoned her young son to a man she hardly knew, who had clearly stated he would have serious problems taking in a third child. He didn't have time to do anything now, he had bigger problems at hand. He needed to do something about the sobbing boy? He was completly over his head, he needed to talk to Blue and sort this mess out. He guided the still crying Toboe outside, hailed a cab and drove to the airport. He'd figure something out.

Hours later...

Blue, Kiba and Cheza were waiting at the gate for Hige. Blue was worried about him, she knew this was hard on him. Soon, they saw him acsend on the escalator and ran over to greet him, and stopped dead in her tracks. By Hige's side was a sniffling little boy gripping a tiny suitcase.

"Blue, kids, this is Toboe. He's going to be staying with us for a while.


End file.
